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ABBYY FineReader PDF for Windows

One workflow that takes a document from paper to searchable, then lets you edit it, lock it down, send it on and work on it together.

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Requires Microsoft® Windows® 11 or 10.

Illustration: a desktop monitor showing a PDF document, with the Windows logo.

At a glance

What FineReader PDF for Windows is

FineReader PDF is built for the everyday document problems of a digital workplace. It runs on ABBYY’s AI-based OCR technology, making it easier to digitize, retrieve, edit, protect and share documents of every kind, without switching applications halfway through the job.

The gain is practical: less time on administrative work, more on your actual expertise.

Watch the product video

Opens on YouTube in a new tab. The video is in English.

Features

What you can do with it

Eleven tools, grouped by the kind of work you are doing.

Editing and organising

  • The FineReader PDF main window with a PDF document open.

    View and edit PDFs

    Open, read and work on your PDFs from a single window, with no second application for each task.

  • Editing text inside a PDF, with a paragraph selected on the Edit Content tab.

    Edit almost like a Word document

    Rewrite whole paragraphs, change the content of tables, or rearrange the page layout.

  • The page organiser view showing thumbnails of a document’s pages.

    Organise pages, Bates numbering and stamps

    Merge and rearrange pages, add Bates numbering and stamps.

Conversion and OCR

  • The Convert to Microsoft Word dialog, with formatting and OCR language options.

    Convert PDFs into Word documents

    Turn a PDF into a Microsoft Word file, retaining most of the original formatting.

  • A table selected inside a scanned invoice, with the copy menu open.

    Extract text and tables

    Pull text and tables out of any PDF with a single click.

  • The OCR Editor with the recognised-text verification dialog open.

    Advanced conversion and OCR checking

    Correct recognition areas, check the OCR results and improve the document’s visual quality.

Collaboration and forms

  • A PDF document with comments and highlights in the margin.

    Comments, notes and mark-up

    Work with colleagues: comment, annotate and mark up passages inside the document.

  • Filling in fields on an interactive PDF form.

    Fill in interactive PDF forms

    Complete fields in interactive PDF forms directly on screen.

Security, comparison and automation

  • Redacting sensitive details in a PDF with the protection tools.

    Protect and sign digitally

    Delete metadata, permanently redact sensitive information, and add passwords or digital signatures.

  • Two versions of a document side by side with the differences highlighted.

    Compare document versions

    Corporate

    Quickly identify the differences between two versions of the same document, even across different file formats.

  • The settings for a scheduled Hot Folder task, with recurrence and folder options.

    Automate with Hot Folder

    Corporate

    Schedule recurring conversion and recognition tasks against folders that are watched automatically.

See the full feature list

Benefits

Why organisations choose it

  • Optimised document processes

    Digitize, retrieve, edit, protect and share documents of every kind, in one workflow.

  • More out of your PDFs

    Edit digital and scanned PDFs with genuine ease: correct whole sentences and paragraphs, or adjust the layout.

  • A digitized document workflow

    Bring paper documents into the digital workplace with AI-based OCR technology.

  • Predictable cost

    Choose a one-year or three-year subscription, whichever suits your planning.

  • One tool for everyone

    A single PDF solution across the organisation, so everyone collaborates on the same files.

  • Simple licence management

    Less load on IT, with automated deployment and straightforward licence management.

Technology

AI doing the work underneath

FineReader PDF uses purpose-built AI at every step of processing a document: from image enhancement and object detection through to text recognition (OCR).

Underneath sit tuned algorithms, generative AI and neural-network architectures. ABBYY publishes the tuned algorithms openly, in its NeoML library.

FineReader PDF in numbers

32
years on the market
10M
users worldwide
198
recognition languages
4.7/5
average product rating
200
corporate users

What version 16 brought to Windows

See what changed in the current Windows release, and what it means in practice.

See the changes

Editions

Standard or Corporate?

Both editions come as a single-user licence, on a one-year or three-year subscription. Pricing is quoted case by case. Ask for an offer.

FineReader PDF 16 Standard

For people working with PDFs and scans every day.

1 user licence · 1- or 3-year subscription

  • Included: Editing, protection and teamwork on PDFs
  • Included: Create and convert PDFs
  • Included: Turn paper and scans into digital files with OCR
  • Not included: Automate digitization and conversion routines (Hot Folder)*
  • Not included: Cross-format document comparison
Get an offer

FineReader PDF 16 Corporate

Everything in Standard, plus document comparison and Hot Folder automation.

1 user licence · 1- or 3-year subscription

  • Included: Editing, protection and teamwork on PDFs
  • Included: Create and convert PDFs
  • Included: Turn paper and scans into digital files with OCR
  • Included: Automate digitization and conversion routines (Hot Folder)*Up to 5,000 pages a month on 2 cores
  • Included: Cross-format document comparison
Get an offer

The page ceiling counts only what goes through Hot Folder automatically, and the counter starts again after 30 days.

Working on a Mac?

There is a macOS edition too, with a narrower feature set. See exactly where it differs from the Windows one.

FineReader PDF for Mac

By sector

Where it is used

  • Legal services

    A document management tool accurate enough to handle the file at every stage of the legal process, from paper through to PDF.

  • Education

    Educators keep research materials centralised and distribute information digitally to students and colleagues.

  • Public sector

    A reliable solution for creating, converting and collaborating on documents, and for preparing them for archiving.

User experiences

What people who use it say

Millions of customers worldwide rely on ABBYY FineReader PDF for Windows for their everyday document work.

  • Extracted text accuracy (e.g. PDF to Word) is excellent - staggering sometimes when you see the input quality. The comparison tool is particularly useful for seeing how someone may have altered a document sent then printed / scanned into PDF.
    Jeremy BDirector, Small businessG2
  • It has an uncanny ability to accurately deconstruct a document and capture the text, non-text elements and the layout. And it does this in multiple languages with equal accuracy. I think the product is unsurpassed.
    Eli WPresident, Small businessG2
  • ABBYY digitalizes documents and images and allows me to save them in different formats, preserving the structure of said documents and images. It’s simply amazing.
    Liliana ASoftware development, Government AdministrationG2
  • The programs functions are easier to find than adobe, and this is a solid pdf application.
    Theodore A.Attorney at LawCapterra

Recognition from software review platforms

  • Capterra Shortlist 2024
  • G2 Leader, Winter 2026
  • G2 Best Support, Mid-Market, Winter 2026
  • G2 Easiest To Do Business With, Small Business, Winter 2026
  • G2 Highest User Adoption, Small Business, Fall 2025
  • Software Advice Most Recommended 2026

Want FineReader PDF for your team?

Tell us how many licences you need and which edition you want, Standard or Corporate, and we will send you an offer.

Get an offerSee the features